Configuring the Colonial Grid in Senegal: Comptoirs, escales, villages de liberté, communes and Capitals

In this chapter, the role of the grid plan in the urban history of French colonial Senegal is analyzed. The history of French colonialism in sub-Saharan Africa and its urban policies and practices in Senegal have been well researched and we will not duplicate it here. Rather, this chapter explores one specific colonial spatial design phenomenon, the grid plan, as a cross-sectional topic. The grid plan played a key role in the planning of the administrative chef lieux of the territory, which enabled its effective colonization. This chapter presents an in-depth, nuanced examination of the various functions and rationales of gridded urban design during the different phases of the deployment of French rule in Senegal and adjoining territories. In particular, it analyzes the various types of colonial settlements which were configured as grids: the comptoirs, villages de liberte, communes, and escales, and does so using evidence obtained in archives, satellite images and photos taken on-site in Senegal and elsewhere. In a colonial situation, the power relations inherent to all city planning are more explicitly and unambiguously expressed than in other political contexts. The ambiguities inherent in the colonial situation are also explored, including the salience of autochthonous institutions and agency, and the multifarious ways culture undergirds urban morphology. The employment of the exogenous, European grid planning tradition is scrutinized from the moment of its introduction to Senegal in the mid-eighteenth century until de-colonization. Comparisons are also made with other colonial spatial practices within and beyond West Africa.